Every year since 1997, the Journal-World has invited administrators and counselors from public and private high schools in the Lawrence area to nominate their most outstanding seniors for the Journal-World’s Academic All-Star team.

As in previous years, applications for the award — and $500 scholarship — were reviewed by a panel of three judges. The top ten All-Stars are chosen based on their strong academics, extracurricular involvement and essays. The honor is meant to recognize the most promising high school seniors from Lawrence High School all the way east to Tonganoxie and De Soto.

This year’s All-Stars boast some pretty varied career aspirations. We’ve got a few aspiring scientists and engineers in the bunch (including a couple future Ivy Leaguers), along with students interested in humanitarian work, dentistry, mathematics, music composition and teaching. Each represents the best and brightest in their respective high school class.

Read on for a look at the 2017 Academic All-Star team’s accomplishments thus far — and what they plan to do next.

Abigail Treff

School: Lawrence High School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Doug and Pat Treff

Abigail Treff, 2017 Academic All-Star

Growing up, Abigail Treff dreamed of becoming famous one day, with the goal of using that platform to make a difference in the lives of others. She never became famous like the Disney stars she saw singing and dancing onscreen, but Treff, in her Academic All-Stars application, said she still believes in her ability to create lasting change in the world.

The Lawrence High School senior credits her parents for instilling in her the importance of giving back, a message that she said was reinforced in 2013, when the Treff family traveled to Kenya with World Vision, a Christian humanitarian aid organization.

“For the first time in my life, I was exposed to people living in extreme poverty and witnessed how transformational development is possible on a grand scale,” Treff said. “As a result, I now hold firm the conviction that humanity must be focused on doing everything possible to alleviate the suffering of those in need.”

Treff, who serves as vice president of her class at LHS, keeps busy with her school’s Young Feminists Club, National Honor Society, Young Democrats Club, Model United Nations and Scholars Bowl, to name a few. She’s also been recognized as a National Merit Commended Scholar and as a Kansas Governor’s Scholar, representing the top 1 percent of high school seniors statewide.

Outside of school, the fledgling humanitarian is a longtime member of the Lawrence Public Library’s teen advisory board, and also serves on LINK Crew, a peer mentorship program for high school students.

As for the future, Treff said in her application that she’s still undecided on which college she’ll attend in the fall. Wherever she goes, Treff said she’s eyed international relations as a major for several years now. She hopes to eventually work in government, with an international organization such as the United Nations or with a global non-profit.

Abena Peasah

School: Free State High School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Richard Peasah and Elizabeth Asiedu

Abena Peasah, 2017 Academic All-Star

In April of her sophomore year at Free State, Abena Peasah stumbled across a blog that ultimately pointed her in the direction of the National Junior Classical League, an organization for Greek and Latin secondary students.

Turns out, there were thousands of fellow “classics nerds” across the country. Peasah, who has studied Latin with an independent tutor since moving on from her school’s Latin classes, asked her former Free State teacher why their school didn’t have such a club.

He said there’d been efforts over the years to maintain a chapter at Free State, but nothing ever stuck.

“Well, I was determined to see an end to that sad pattern,” Peasah, who began studying Latin in the seventh grade, wrote in her Academic All-Stars application.

In the years since, the lover of all things classical has started up her own NJCL chapter at Free State, starting with a “ragtag bunch” in the spring of her junior year that had added 25 new members by the following autumn. Under Peasah’s leadership, Free State’s Latin Club now boasts a robust membership that enjoys celebrating Roman holidays together.

“Latin may be a dead language,” Peasah said, “but its students are very much alive and well.”

When she’s not poring over ancient texts, the Free State senior serves as co-president and founder of her school’s Explorations of Science Club, vice president of the National Honor Society chapter, co-president and founder of the humanities club, and treasurer of the KEY Club, among other activities.

She’ll head off to Harvard University in the fall, where she hopes to study chemistry and eventually become a researcher.

Calvin Yost-Wolff

School: Free State High School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Douglas Wolff and Nancy Yost

Calvin Yost-Wolff, 2017 Academic All-Star

Calvin Yost-Wolff has nurtured a love of music pretty much since birth.

As a baby, he’d instantly stop crying if his parents popped in a Mozart CD. By the time he entered the fourth grade, at the encouragement of his piano teacher, Yost-Wolff began composing his own music.

“I love patterns,” the academically gifted teen wrote in his All-Star application. “From my interest in numbers to my delight in science fiction, I enjoy uncovering hidden sequences and schemas. Nowhere is my love of patterns more prevalent than in my admiration of music.”

Yost-Wolff has a mind for numbers. As a musician and composer, he’s earned accolades from the National Guild of Piano Teachers (placing among 13 winners in the guild’s international piano competition) and the National Young Composer’s Challenge, for which he was honored with his original piece “Elliptical Trinket” being performed at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla.

Mathematically, he’s also a strong performer. Yost-Wolff took home a Distinguished Honor title in both 2016 and 2017 at the American Mathematics Competition, scoring in the top 1 percent of the 200,000 high school students who participated in the contest.

Naturally, he serves as president of his school’s math club, which he also co-founded. The National Merit Finalist also keeps busy with Free State’s Science Olympiad, debate and Scholars Bowl teams, in addition to running cross country.

After graduation, Yost-Wolff plans to study both mathematics and music composition, with the goal of ultimately becoming a mathematician or professional composer.

He’ll happily attend any of the several prestigious colleges he’s applied to, once he hears back definitely. So far, Yost-Wolff said, that list includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie-Mellon University, Columbia University and Yale University, to which he was already accepted via a “likely letter” earlier this year.

Rebecca Burmingham

School: Veritas Christian School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Larry and Dea Burmingham

Rebecca Burmingham, 2017 Academic All-Star

As far as mentors go, Rebecca Burmingham wrote in her Academic All-Stars application essay, there are few who have influenced her as Liz Zayat has.

“By demonstrating kindness toward others, she has shown me how to be kind. With her honesty about her own struggles, she has taught me to be trustworthy,” Burmingham said of her longtime youth-group mentor. “With her love, she has shown me the value of myself and others, and how to love them well.”

Without her, Burmingham wrote, “I wouldn’t be on the path to becoming the person I hope to be.” But, judging from Burmingham’s lengthy resume of community service involvement, the high-achieving Veritas Christian School senior is well on her way.

In addition to maintaining her perfect 4.0 GPA, Burmingham stays active in student life at Veritas, lettering in cheerleading, choir and drama while also serving as a school Worship Team Leader.

Outside of school, Burmingham volunteers at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and with Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church, where she sings and plays bass in the youth-group worship band. Through her church, Burmingham spent two summers tutoring at-risk children and doing household chores for the elderly as part of mission trips to inner-city St. Louis.

Burmingham plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the fall, having already been accepted into the school’s honors program. She’ll major in business administration, but ultimately hopes to attend dentistry school and eventually practice dentistry in underserved inner cities or rural areas.

Hayden Brown

School: Eudora High School

GPA: 3.98

Parents: MT and Deanna Brown

Hayden Brown, 2017 Academic All-Star

Hayden Brown dreams of working for NASA one day. Now, with high school graduation soon upon him, the academically gifted Eudora teen is reaching for the stars — while also keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

In his All-Star application essay, Brown credits his mother for allowing him to dream big.

“I aspire to believe in others, the way she has believed in me,” the Eudora High School senior said of his mom, Deanna Brown. “However, more importantly, my mom has continued to be my biggest fan even when things have not gone my way.”

Deanna Brown, a school counselor, taught her son “to see the world for how it can be and work to move past the challenges of how it is,” the younger Brown said.

Throughout his high school career, Brown has participated in several STEM-related competitions, including a fourth-place finish at the statewide Science Olympiad contest. At school, he’s involved with Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society and the International Club, in addition to football and lettering in basketball.

Brown also enjoys giving back to his community through volunteer work, lending his time to such organizations as the Eudora Police Community Basketball Camp, the Salvation Army and the Sexual Abuse and Trauma Center, among others. Notably, Brown founded and directed an annual silent auction for the Lawrence Police Department’s Blue Santa program, raising more than $25,000 to aid local families in need.

After graduation, Brown plans to attend the University of Kansas, where he’ll major in aerospace engineering.

Jack Edmonds

School: Bishop Seabury Academy

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Jason and Machaela Edmonds

Jack Edmonds, 2017 Academic All-Star

Whether it’s listening to music on the drive home, playing guitar in his free time or drifting off to sleep at night with earbuds in his ears, not a day goes by without Jack Edmonds engaging somehow with music.

For the high-achieving Bishop Seabury Academy senior, life just wouldn’t be the same without it.

“Music is a universal language,” Edmonds wrote in his Academic All-Star application essay. “No matter where you are on the planet and no matter which culture, it’s something everyone can relate to.”

But Edmonds also said he’s interested in the science behind music. Similar to the rules that dictate mathematics and engineering, he said, is the ability in music to “create a seemingly infinite number of melodies and harmonies” based on the rules of musical keys.

The music-loving teen has earned high marks throughout his high school career, placing first at last year’s American Mathematics Competitions at Bishop Seabury and also attending the National Student Leadership Conference last summer at the University of California, Berkeley, where Edmonds built an underwater robot, wind turbine and trebuchet.

He also keeps busy with his school’s cross country and tennis teams, as well as volunteer work through Bishop Seabury and various community organizations.

Edmonds plans on attending Santa Clara University in the fall, where he’ll major in electrical engineering. He’s not entirely decided on a career plan, though he predicts renewable energy may have something to do with it.

Grant Gollier

School: Bishop Seabury Academy

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Bill Gollier and Kim King

Grant Gollier, 2017 Academic All-Star

Grant Gollier really enjoys lifting weights and training, whether it’s his own personal bulking-up or providing fitness guidance to others.

Lest images of Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Pumping Iron” fill your head, you should probably also know about Gollier’s 4.0 GPA and self-proclaimed identity as a “huge computer nerd.”

When he’s not powerlifting for Bishop Seabury Academy, the brainy teen also enjoys tinkering with a server in his basement, which sometimes doubles as a lab for his computer programming projects.

“This all stems from my earliest memory: Christmas morning 2002, when my dad gave me a clunky old computer,” Gollier wrote in his Academic All-Star application. “Although an odd gift for a three-year-old, I loved it and my fascination with computers just exploded.”

The multitalented senior boasts a variety of hobbies, from singing in his school’s Chamber Choir and Chamber Singers ensemble to serving as a school prefect and treasurer in the student senate. Gollier also serves as a leader on Bishop Seabury’s Student Tech Committee, in addition to his involvement with Future Business Leaders of America and his school’s theatre tech program.

Gollier plans on studying electrical engineering next year, though he’s not entirely sure where he’ll end up. When he submitted his Academic All-Star application, the aspiring engineer was still waiting to hear back from several prestigious schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, Harvey Mudd College and the University of California, Berkeley.

Emily Euler

School: De Soto High School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Travis and Connie Euler

Emily Euler, 2017 Academic All-Star

Emily Euler knows it’s a “cliché” answer, but when asked about the most meaningful person in her life, Euler can’t help but be honest: It’s her dad.

Throughout her life, Euler said she’s struggled against her own perfectionist tendencies. Whether at work or at school, she’s often had to contend with anxieties about not measuring up. Fortunately for Euler, she’s found a kindred spirit in her dad, who she said shares her perfectionist personality.

“He has taught me that my personal best is the best that I can do, and it might not be what everyone else is looking for,” Euler wrote in her Academic All-Star application. “The only perfect that I can achieve is my best, and if I have put my all into something, then there is nothing left to do but wait and see if it was enough. If it is not, then I will start again and keep trying until I get it right.”

The high-achieving De Soto High School senior has gotten a lot right throughout her academic career. The Kansas Honors Scholar serves as captain of her school’s tennis team while also juggling the National Honor Society, Ambassadors and Mentors crew, Leaders in Teen Education and volunteering with Harvesters — The Community Food Network.

In her free time, Euler also enjoys puzzles, drawing, and reading and writing everything from realistic fiction to fantasy.

Her interests in potential college majors similarly run the gamut from business to communications to humanities. Euler will have her pick from several schools when the time comes — she’s already been admitted to the University of Central Missouri, Pittsburg State University and Emporia State University.

Cameron Stussie

School: Lawrence High School

GPA: 4.0

Parents: Larry and Lori Stussie

Cameron Stussie, 2017 Academic All-Star

Years ago, while his friend and neighbor Jayden battled cancer, Cameron Stussie tried to fight off the disease by keeping Jayden happy and comfortable — organizing a fundraiser at his school in the naïve hope that $273 (in change) might pay for a cure, letting Jayden and her mother shave his head while cancer treatments caused her own hair to fall out, and decorating Jayden’s house with Christmas lights to cheer her up after returning from the hospital.

When Jayden succumbed to cancer, Stussie blamed himself, he remembers. But with time, the Lawrence High School senior said he’s learned a valuable lesson.

“Even though I failed myself, I do not believe I failed her, and that is one of the most important things that I keep with me,” Stussie wrote in his Academic All-Star application. “She taught me to enjoy the small moments and never to take anything, including my health, for granted.”

When he’s not busy with orchestra, several band ensembles and various choral groups,, Stussie makes a habit of giving back.

There’s his involvement with the LINK Crew peer mentorship program, as well as his time spent caring for animals (on a volunteer basis) at Lawrence’s Pet World. There’s also Stussie’s 100-plus hours of service to Baby Jay’s Legacy of Hope, the charity founded in honor of his late friend to aid families of pediatric cancer patients.

After graduation, Stussie plans on attending either the University of Kansas, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln or the University of Arkansas. Wherever he goes, he hopes to study music education.